lgbt-history-archive: “QUARTER MILLION HOMOSEXUAL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES PROTEST CIVIL SERVICE COMM

lgbt-history-archive:

“QUARTER MILLION HOMOSEXUAL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES PROTEST CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION POLICY,” members of the East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) (including Craig Rodwell, far right, and Lilli Vincenz, left) picket the Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C., June 26, 1965. Photo by Kay Tobin, c/o @nyplpicturecollection.
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On June 26, 1965, fifty-two years ago today, members of the East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) continued with their controversial new direct-action approach, holding a protest at the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the federal agency charged with implementing the government’s “merit-based hiring” scheme.
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While the group previously had picketed the White House (twice, in fact, once on April 17, 1965, and again on May 29), the CSC protest was of particular importance to Frank Kameny, the president of Mattachine Society Washington (MSW), who lost his government job in 1957 pursuant to CSC regulations requiring the termination of known homosexuals.
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The protest garnered enough press that CSC officials soon requested a meeting with MSW members; while it took another decade before the CSC officially changed its policy regarding homosexual employees, the meeting between gay activists and federal officials was a historic first.
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In 2009, John Berry, the openly-gay Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the CSC’s successor agency, formally apologized to Frank Kameny on behalf of the federal government, saying “Please accept our apology for the consequences of the previous policy of the United States government, and please accept the gratitude and appreciation of the United States Office of Personnel Management for the work you have done to fight discrimination and protect the merit-based civil service system.”
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“Apology accepted,” Kameny responded. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #Resist #Pride2017 (at Washington, District of Columbia)